Ontario Women’s Directorate

Neighbours, Friends and

Families Public Education
Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Campaign

TERMS OF REFERENCE:
IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE COMMUNITIES
CALL FOR LETTERS OF INTENT

Call Issued for Letters of Intent: September 27, 2010

Submission Deadline for Letters of Intent: October 25, 2010

The Ontario Women’s Directorate (OWD) is issuing this call for Letters of Intent for
community-led projects that will extend the Neighbours, Friends and Families (NFF) public
education campaign to Ontario’s immigrant and refugee communities.

OWD will evaluate all Letters of Intent and invite full proposals (due in December 2010) only
from those applicants whose Letters of Intent best match the selection criteria. OWD will fund
approximately eight one-time grants, to a maximum of $50,000 each, for projects concluding
no later than August 31, 2012.

The Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) will provide provincial-level
support and coordination through a steering committee and evaluation for the overall initiative
to extend NFF to immigrant and refugee communities. OCASI is a registered charity with a
membership of more than 200 community-based organizations in the province. OCASI was
created to address the common concerns and mutual interests of immigrant- and refugee-
serving organizations.

Intended audience for projects:

This call for Letters of Intent is focused on projects to reach people who are immigrants or
refugees and share some common attribute that may be based on ethnicity, faith, language,
or other cultural quality that defines them as a group, and who are not already reached by the
existing English, French or Aboriginal NFF campaigns.

Projects may propose to reach immigrant and refugee communities across the province,
across a specific region, or within a specific municipality. Letters of Intent that propose to
reach many immigrant and refugee communities (e.g., all of whom live in a common
geographic area) will also be considered.

1. BACKGROUND
OWD funds the provincial NFF public education campaign and its Francophone and
Aboriginal adaptations, Voisin-es, ami-es et familles and Kanawayhitowin – Taking Care of
Each Others Spirit.
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Since 2006, the NFF campaign has worked to raise public awareness of the signs and risk
factors of violence against women and to help people close to an at-risk woman or an abusive
man offer effective support. Its long-term goal is to reduce violence against women in all
communities in Ontario.

Details about the campaign and educational materials are available on the NFF website:
www.neighboursfriendsandfamilies.ca

2. APPLICATION PROCESS AND TIMELINES

Stages Timelines
OWD issues Call for Letters of Intent September 27, 2010
Submission deadline for Letters of Intent October 25, 2010 at 5 p.m.
OWD completes its assessment of Letters and invites By mid-November, 2010
full project proposals from selected applicants only
Submission deadline for full project proposals December 13, 2010
Successful applicants notified February 2011 (estimated)
Approved projects begin March 1, 2011 (estimated)
Project activities are completed, including final reporting By August 31, 2012
to OWD
Final report, project evaluations and recommendations September 2012
are submitted by OCASI to OWD

3. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS
Applicants submitting a Letter of Intent must:
 be incorporated not-for-profit organizations, or established by or under legislation as a
legal entity with a not-for-profit mandate. OWD will not accept Letters of Intent from
individuals, for-profit organizations, or municipal, provincial and federal governments.
 have a mandate for and experience providing outreach to immigrant and refugee
communities, including delivering public education;
 have prevention of violence against women expertise and experience delivering
programs for immigrant and refugee women, or a committed partner with these
qualifications;
 have a history of successful interagency collaboration and partnerships;
 understand and commit to apply gender-based analysis to their proposed project.

Applicants who receive OWD funding will be required to put into effect and maintain for the
duration of their project, at their own expense, all necessary insurance for the initiative,
including Commercial General Liability Insurance to an inclusive limit of not less than Two
Million Dollars ($2,000,000) per occurrence.

4. REQUIRED PROJECT ACTIVITIES

Projects will be required to comply with all relevant legislation, such as the Human Rights
Code and the Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
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Proposed activities must include:
 leading the development and implementation of an NFF campaign specific to an
immigrant and/or refugee community;
 engaging community leaders, service providers and other community organizations to
learn about NFF and help promote it;
 disseminating NFF training and materials and, where necessary, revising these to
better meet the needs of the target community;
 building capacity within the target community to sustain NFF (e.g., by encouraging
organizations to include NFF in mandatory staff training);
 providing formal reports to OWD on project activities, results and finances;
 working with OCASI:
o participating on an OCASI-chaired steering committee;
o working with OCASI staff who will help support, coordinate and evaluate the
funded projects;
o sending project leaders to attend NFF training on how to run community
campaigns and teach NFF to others;
o documenting NFF activities for other communities to learn from in the future.
See the Appendix for more detailed information on the roles of OCASI and the steering
committee.
 Applicants may propose additional activities they would undertake to promote NFF within
their target community.
 Applicants may use or adapt ideas from the four project models developed by OCASI and
described in the Appendix.

Reaching out to French-speaking communities:

The provincial Voisin-es, ami-es et familles (VAF) campaign reaches out to French-speaking
communities, including immigrants and refugees. Applicants who count Francophones
among their intended audience must ensure their ideas complement, and do not duplicate,
the work of VAF. Please consult Ghislaine Sirois, Action ontarienne contre la violence faite
aux femmes (gsirois@francofemmes.org or 613 241 8433 ext. 23), prior to submitting a Letter
of Intent.

5. SELECTION CRITERIA
OWD will assess all Letters of Intent according to the extent that each demonstrates:
i. the applicant’s eligibility, as outlined in Section 3 above, and demonstration to be the
most appropriate organization to lead an NFF campaign for their target community;
ii. partnerships and support from key people/organizations necessary to deliver the
project to the target community;
iii. a convincing approach to effectively reach the target community, with practical
activities and a realistic budget, and reflecting the required activities in Section 4
above;
iv. the potential to make a significant impact (i.e., the project will reach a large number of
people; the project will serve as a strong model for other communities to follow).
v. Clarity and completeness of the Letters will also be assessed.

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OWD will give consideration to the geographic distribution of the overall projects it selects, as
well as to encouraging a range of different project models.

Applicants are also encouraged to submit letters of reference from individuals and
organizations familiar with their work.

6. LETTER OF INTENT INSTRUCTIONS

Complete the Letter of Intent Template provided by OWD. It will also be available on the
OWD website (www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/owd). Your Letter of Intent must include all
information outlined in the template. The total length of the Letter of Intent must not exceed
four pages (excluding letters of reference).

Deadline for submitting Letters of Intent to OWD: October 25, 2010, at 5:00 p.m.

You must submit your Letter of Intent in signed hard copy by the deadline to:

Teresa Bonavota, Grants Officer

Ontario Women's Directorate
777 Bay Street, 6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2J4
416-314-3988
Attention: NFF Call for Letters of Intent

Please also submit an electronic copy to: Teresa.Bonavota@ontario.ca .

For more information on the Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign and this Call for
Letters of Intent, contact the OWD project leads:

Greg Nickles Jennifer Gray

Partnership Development Specialist Bilingual Partnership Development Specialist
Greg.Nickles@ontario.ca or 416-314-4512 Jennifer.N.Gray@ontario.ca or 416-314-0351

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APPENDIX

i. Proposed role and responsibilities of OCASI

OCASI will provide provincial-level support, coordination and evaluation for the overall
initiative to extend NFF to immigrant and refugee communities as follows.
 Establish and chair a provincial steering committee, made up of representatives from
funded projects and other experts.
 Provide a provincial-level coordinator to support individual projects and the steering
committee, including:
o organizing NFF orientation and training for representatives of the funded
projects;
o helping projects assess needs in their communities and cultural appropriateness
of NFF resources;
o developing and maintaining an online Community of Practice to help
participants network and to share information.
 Collect and make project results and products available (e.g., online) for other
communities to learn from/use in the future.
 Lead ongoing evaluation of the overall initiative; provide a final report and
recommendations for any further steps to OWD.

ii. Proposed role and responsibilities of the steering committee

The steering committee will be chaired by OCASI, with a membership of NFF experts and
representatives from the funded projects, and will be responsible for the following.
 Provide a forum for projects’ staff to network, exchange ideas and resources, and
identify opportunities for collaboration.
 Provide support and guidance on common issues, or to problem-solve issues specific
to a project.
 Based on input from members, make recommendations on adapting or developing
culturally appropriate NFF educational materials that would be broadly accessible to
immigrant and refugee communities during this initiative if resources exist, or in the
future.
 Identify issues for reaching immigrant and refugee communities across the province,
with direction on possible solutions – including next steps for the provincial NFF
campaign.

iii. Summary of four project models

OCASI has developed four project models that applicants may use or adapt to implement
their campaign. Other models are also acceptable. The following is a summary. Detailed
descriptions are available from OWD by contacting the OWD project leads (see page 4).

a) Community Model
This approach would be led by a group of local leaders (who may or may not belong to
agencies) representing immigrant and refugee communities within a geographic area,
such as a city. These leaders may include: representatives of faith-based and
community-based immigrant-serving organizations, religious leaders, business
leaders, doctors, nurses, municipal leaders, school teachers, coaches, community
activists, media personalities, etc. Together as a committee, the leaders would guide

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 the development and implementation of a local NFF campaign, using their networks
and influence to promote NFF materials and training.

b) Collaborative Community Agency Model

This approach would bring together two or three likeminded agencies who serve
women clients in immigrant and refugee communities. These agencies would combine
resources/expertise, complementing one another’s strengths to achieve a wider
impact. Together, they would develop a local NFF campaign, recruit community
champions, implement NFF training and disseminate materials.

c) Language-based model
For this approach, NFF campaign messages and activities would be directed at a
community defined by common language (e.g., Spanish-speaking, Arabic-speaking,
Hindi-speaking, etc.). The goal would be to expand the potential audience by focusing
on a language shared by many peoples. This approach would allow leaders of a
language-based NFF campaign to engage a range of partners and reach members of
the public who are united by a language but who represent culturally and ethnically
diverse groups.

d) Northern and Small Communities Model

This approach would link immigrant-serving agencies across a region where
communities are isolated and services are spread across a wide geographic area (e.g.,
the North, in small communities and rural areas). A central agency would coordinate
training for local community organizations and champions throughout the region, who
would implement their own local campaigns. The goal is to combine agencies’ efforts
and resources, to promote and sustain NFF work across the region focussed on
immigrant and refugee communities.